Final Fantasy 14 likes to lay it on a little thick. There's something special about you, something especially you, that makes the denizens of the world stop, take an honest look at their lives and listen to what you have to say. From narcissistic apprentice archers to politicians charged with securing the safety of millions of Eorzeans, the Warrior of Light's immaculate conduct and steadfast resolve tilts heads and alters destinies.
If only these people knew, then, that every Warrior of Light is secretly just some gamer on the other side of a screen. A human being, flesh and blood, who is capable of making a great many mistakes. They never see the words "Duty Failed." But we do. What are some common errors many players share during our FF14 adventures? See if any of the following ring any bells, veteran heroes. And perhaps, if you're new, you'll avoid retreading our pain.
7 Pray Return to the Waking Sands Properly
"Pray return to the Waking Sands." For a large swath of A Realm Reborn's story, you're going to be reading this — sometimes even hearing it — from Minfilia, the resolute ruler of the Scions of the Seventh Dawn. She's a good woman who only wants what's best for the realm. Quickly, she learns to trust you, to put her faith in you for a brighter tomorrow. But if she said these words half as many times, they would still be three times too frequent.
The constant back-and-forth trips to the Scions' secret headquarters wouldn't be so bad with flight, but flight's not unlocked until after the vast majority of occasions you'll ever find a reason to wander to the Waking Sands. In an ideal world, there would be an aetheryte to travel to at Vesper Bay, where the Waking Sands are located, but instead, the nearest aetheryte is found at the nearby settlement of Horizon.
You may be surprised to learn that, if you've been teleporting to Horizon and then hopping aboard your trusty Chocobo, you're actually wasting some time. For many players, it's faster to use Limsa Lominsa's aetheryte to warp to the Arcanist's Guild, then take the nearby ferry to Vesper Bay. Even better, two main quests in ARR will grant you aetheryte tickets good for a one-way jump straight there. Don't forget you've received them like so many players do!
6 Removing the Scenario Guide
This next one's far less detailed. In fact, that's rather the problem, isn't it? MMO newcomers are especially likely to take one look at the amount of screen real estate taken up by user interface elements and disable half of it before their brains explode. FF14 really doesn't jam up the grid as much as certain other popular members of the genre, but if you're coming into it from, say, Final Fantasy 7 Remake, you're going to feel overwhelmed.
Don't make the common mistake of removing the main scenario guide from your UI. There will be times you'll get distracted. There will be weeks you won't be able to log on. Nothing's more irksome than spending the better part of an hour retracing your steps, trying to figure out who it was that told you to go do whatever, wherever, all because you didn't select the next story quest.
5 Edge of Duty Battlefields = Instant Death
This one comes and goes like the wind, which makes it that much more frustrating. Basically, sometimes the barriers at the edge of solo duties and trials will automatically kill your character. In extreme cases, like the Titan battle, you'll fall off and never return. (Well, not until the fight has ended. You're out of it for good regardless.)
At least in those cases, there's almost always a pretty blatant lack of ground beyond a certain point. "Perhaps, were I to wander off this cliff, I would fall." Easy stuff. But in many other examples, it's not so clear-cut. Basically, expect to die to this common mistake a few times no matter how good you think you are. Mitigate that as best you can by doing what most FF14 vets suggest in general: following the rest of your party in dungeons and trials so that you know what not to do.
4 Neglecting to Set the Multiplayer Hotbar
Someone out there is going to shake their head at this. "I never made that mistake," they'll say. "I actually read the tutorials." Okay, well, look. Most of us missed something in there, somewhere. We booted up our first instance of Frontline, Rival Wings, or even The Feast and faltered hard because there was, quite literally, nothing we could do but run around. Our hotbars were completely empty.
NPCs do explain that player-versus-player matches mandate their own hotbar. Once folks realize that in full, they can begin to experience these modes the way they're meant to be, rather than freaking out for ten or more minutes as teammates slowly but surely realize one of their allies will only be good for entertaining emoji spam.
3 Aetherytes Form a Network
World of Warcraft fans have historically been known to first regard Final Fantasy 14's aetheryte system through the lens of a "Hearthstone" — a device that will take them back to a specific place upon their untimely demise and… that's it, really.
Aetherytes form a teleportation network across the world. If you've attuned to two aetherytes, you can always pay a nominal fee to go there and back again. Chilling in Ishgard but missing the piping-old Ul'dah? Goodness gracious, don't fly there. Teleport. Common sense. It fast becomes common sense, but don't underestimate how foreign any of 14's concepts can be when you're just a young sprout making your way home.
2 Tank Stance is On/Off
Fresh tank players frequently forget that Tank Stance has only two modes. It's either active or inactive. There's no fancy command prompt for generating enmity afterward to defend your party. Well, there is, but we're talking about rechargeable boosts such as Provoke. Not the same thing as the immense draw-in prowess of Tank Stance, which must be switched on at the beginning of any multiplayer situation.
So many of us neglect to do so even after hundreds of hours with the game. An Endwalker dungeon can start off rather poorly because the tank forgot. It doesn't matter when it happens; what matters is that the error is corrected as soon as it's brought up so that your fellow Eorzans will withstand the muscular might have catastrophic bad guys through your protection.
1 Potions on Party Members
"Physician, heal thyself." Barring the MMO installments, Final Fantasy has always featured the opportunity to purchase dozens upon dozens of restorative items that can be used on any party member at any given time. In FF14, you can purchase hundreds of these wonderful potions. There's just one catch. You can only use potions on yourself.
Too often and ever to our chagrin, we've heard of folks who recognize a fellow party member in a heated battle is on the brink of death. Rush to the rescue, then, tapping that most sacred of keys as quickly and rigorously as possible. And then, sadness; the animation plays out, your Warrior of Light reaching into their hidden satchel, busting out a Mega-Potion, and downing it all with gusto while your friend dies not three feet away.
Don't let it happen to you. Potions are not for pals. Friendship is magic.
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